Edible Vancouver Island Fall 2022

Left to right: Marylene in Swell’s kitchen. Photo by Simon Ager / Maple Leaf Adventures; Enjoying the view from the Columbia III . Photo by Tavish Campbell.

Fern never trained as a chef, learning on the job instead. She often tests new recipes on the crew in April during the annual sand ing, painting and varnishing of the ship at its dock near Quadra Island. “ ey’ll say ‘Yeah, bring this one on,’ or ‘No, we don’t really like this one.’” Fern sources mostly organic ingredients in bulk for the entire season while buying fresh prawns from a neighbour with a shing boat, and salmon from her daughter Farlyn who owns a com mercial salmon troller with her partner. Her biggest challenge is nding fresh fruit and veggies at the last minute at remote locations such as Bella Bella, where the only store may not have what she needs. “So, you run back to the boat and call one of the new crew ying in the next day and say, ‘We need 15 avocados or a case of mangos.’” In recent years, Fern’s two daughters take turns as chef (Farlyn is also a captain while Miray is also a kayak guide and runs the o ce) but Fern still loves being on the boat, especially at the end of the season in the Great Bear Rainforest. “Some people don’t like the rain, but it’s so peaceful,” she says. “You’re in a quiet cove, snuggled in. You can hear the rain on the boat and see the bears. It’s amazing.” Perhaps what’s even more amazing is how these chefs create mouth-watering meals day in, day out, no matter the weather, the remoteness, the distractions of wildlife, the demands of guests and crew. ey’re all part of the job they love.

a full-size refrigerator, stove, dishwasher and barbecue on Swell . Still, Marylene knows the best-laid plans can go awry. “On my last trip,” she recounts, “I ordered 30 buns for soup [from a store in Campbell River], and I got 30 bags of buns, and I ended up with something like 200 buns!” Another time, glass jars of made-from-scratch panna cotta landed on the oor when the fridge door suddenly ew open. “Ten minutes before dinner I had to make an emergency dessert!” Fortunately, she had some mangoes in the freezer. “And if you put frozen mangoes in a blender, they become a kind of sorbet.” Marylene’s biggest challenge is meeting the needs of all kinds of eaters, be it vegetarian, pescatarian, vegan, gluten-free, you-name it, often all at the same time. “Out of six crew members there’s probably ve of them that need something special, then there’s always a couple of guests.” On the upside, she sees mealtimes as an opportunity to educate guests about the importance of choosing wild, sustainably har vested seafood as well as plant-based meals. “I try to serve one vegetarian or vegan meal per day,” she says, “to promote eating less animal protein but also to showcase that eating vegetarian can be nourishing and satisfying.” It’s the spectacular window views and desire to be in nature that inspired Fern Kornelsen and her family to buy Mothership Adventures, a kayak touring company, in 2005, along with the 68-foot wooden “mothership” Columbia III .

42 FALL 2022 EDIBLE VANCOUVER ISLAND